Posted on 07/17/2006 12:45:35 PM PDT by wouldntbprudent
Chinese motor manufacturer Nanjing Automobile Monday outlined plans for the production of an MG sports car at the former Longbridge site in Birmingham, in the English Midlands.
Nanjing Automobile said it would place an initial 10 million pounds (18 million dollars) of investment into Longbridge to resume production of the MGF sports car.
The plant, formerly the home of MG Rover, would have an annual capacity of 15,000 cars, which will be sold in Britain and Europe, Nanjing said.
About 80 people currently working at the site and more may be taken on in future, Nanjing chief Yu Jianwei said.
"Car enthusiasts all over the world can be reassured that MG, one of the great motoring brands, is safe in our hands," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at playfuls.com ...
Pretty amazing if it is the Chinese that brings back the MG to England. It won't be the old MG, sad to say, though.
I can see a clear market for a classic TD or TF model, but with updated engine and electronics. Those were fun cars to drive and still would be, but they're impractical for most people, today. With modern mechanicals and electronics, though, they'd be a blast again.
I've owned an MGTD, an MGA TwinCam fixed head, an early 60s MG Midget, and an MGB. I loved all of those cars, even if I spent as much time tinkering with them as driving them. I made money on all of them, and got to drive them for a while.
I thought they were coming to the US. Did that change?
One article did mention that they were still thinking of building a U.S. plant.
Electrics by Lucifer, err sorry Lucas.
Ah, yes, Joseph Lucas, Prince of Darkness.
My 1961 MG Midget had this alarming habit of extinguishing its headlights at random times. It still had the combination light and ignition switch. You turned a ring around the switch to control the lights. Very bad design and, by the time I owned the car, new ones were almost impossible to obtain.
So, that was when I installed a walnut dash. The ignition switch still worked fine, so I put a line of toggle switches with Walnut handles on the dash for the lights and left the old switch in place.
After that, the lights worked fine. I can't say the same for the generator and voltage regulator. Ah, well...
My first truck wa a 1974 toyota hilux. I had to patch parts of the electrical system with parts bought at a home center. It also leaked oil so bad it would change itself.
Wha tdoes that have to do with and MG being produced by the Chinese?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1664240/posts
Offices in Oklahoma City; plant in Ardmore, OK
You will be proved wrong.
Folks used to make derogatory and accurate) remarks about Japanese products in the 1950s. Ten years ago, we laughed at cars produced in South Korea. They're selling more than French cars (none) here in the USA.
It was announced last week that they are building an assembly plant in Ardmore, OK. They will have their US headquarters in Oklahoma City and an engineer team with the University of Oklahoma.
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